Cloudoverfutureof ArdmoreStudios

May 1983

CONFUSION surrounds the future of the Ardmore film studios in Bray.

Robert Stewart, liquidator of the studios which have now been closed for over five years, said this week that Mary Tyler Moore Enterprises are no longer in the running for the purchase of the studio complex. He told the Wicklow People that the original deal formulated last October had fallen through and no new offer has been made.

Morgan O’Sullivan of Tara Productions who has been acting for MTM in Ireland denied that the company was out of the running. He said he believed that MTM is still interested in the studios.

‘ They now have to make up their minds,’ he added. Mr Stewart says he is now dealing with ‘several other interested parties’ and he added that he hopes to have a purchase deal completed within eight to 10 weeks.

During the week we contacted most of the major film-makers in the country and all denied they were one of the ‘several interested parties.’

David Collins of Strongbow Films – Ireland’s largest film company and makers of Eat the Peach - said Strongbow has no interest whatsoever in Ardmore.

However, he admitted that they had looked very closely at the studios at one time with a view to purchase but found it unsuitable for their purposes.